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Firms reward you if you have it, penalize you if you don’t. So naturally, you want AUM.

But, before you can increase your own “Assets Under Management,” could I be so bold as to suggest that you must first find the assets. So, before chanting, the “more assets under management” mantra, chant this: “First find the money. Stay in touch with the money. Move the money.” Repeat that 20 times in a low, soothing voice.

Two Rules

1) When you are talking to a prospect who you know is not going to continue in the selling cycle now, do your very best to find when this prospect will have funds available to invest or re-invest.

2) Frequently, ask Find the Money questions of your clients. If you think, “I have it all,” you dream.

Find the Money

For some reason, quite unknown to me, it is very difficult to get financial advisors to gently and persistently probe for additional funds.

I have written many of these. You will find eight of the best ones in my free white paper, “Seven Tools for Success.” Click the link. You will need to register, but there’s no charge.

Three Magic Words

Let’s say the art of probing for money has three components.

1) Gentle questions: When you see my questions, you will know exactly what I mean.

2) Commitment: If you’re going to do it once, don’t bother. My challenge to you is this: In the next week, ask 25 clients. I assure you that you will be shocked at what you find.

3) Segue: That word or phrase that enables you to smoothly transition from one topic to another.

When your topics are unrelated, your best segue is “by the way.”

These three words enable you to jump smoothly from one topic to another, unrelated topic.

Client: I hooked a lunker. That old girl was laying right on the bottom. blah blah blah. Biggest bass I ever caught. 14 pounds.

You: Bob, that’s great. I’m sure you’ll be going back next year. Hey! By the way, let me run a question by you.

“Do you have …” and you just segued into a “money question.”

So go get your “Seven Tools for Success,” take the Find the Money challenge, and before you know it, you will have moved some of the assets you found. These are now assets under management.

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Bill Good is chairman of Bill Good Marketing. His Gorilla CRM® System helps advisors double their production or work half as much; visit www.billgood.com. His seminar program, “No More Pies! ®,” helps advisors manage ETF portfolios using technical analysis; see www.nomorepies.net. And his blog, financialadvisorsmarketing.net, has lots of useful information for advisors who need to beef up marketing. To preview Bill as a speaker, see his YouTube channel here: bit.ly/billgoodspeaker.

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